Alaska crabbers face ‘fishing cliff’ with government shutdown
Alaska crabbers face ‘fishing cliff’ with government shutdown
The Alaska crab season is set to open Oct. 15. But the crab fishermen and women can’t set out for their catch until they get permits from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is closed due to the federal government shutdown.
WASHINGTON — Theirs is one of the deadliest occupations, with 800-pound crab pots menacing life and limb, and stormy waters threatening their ships.
But the men and women who ply the Bering Sea pursuing the lucrative catch are facing a different challenge: The three-month Alaska crab season starts Tuesday, but government workers, idled by the federal shutdown, aren’t issuing the necessary permits.
The shutdown has forced furloughs of fisheries managers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Juneau. Without them, some 80 boats that fish for Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea snow crab and other species can’t get the paperwork to catch their quotas.
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